Today, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing titled "Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request for National Security Space Programs." For testimony and to watch the hearing click here.
"Good afternoon, welcome to the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing on the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request for National Security Space Programs.
This hearing could not have come at a better time.
Space is a warfighting domain and now that everyone agrees on that we must turn our efforts towards setting up our forces for success.
We have to develop the culture, the processes, and training needed to continue to outpace our strategic competitors to preserve our national security.
I am so excited to have the support of President Trump as we work towards this goal and look forward to making it a reality in the near future.
We have the privilege today of hearing from three of the Nation's top leaders in our military and intelligence space enterprise.
General John 'Jay' Raymond
Commander, Air Force Space Command and Commander of Joint Forces Space Component Command at U.S. Strategic Command
Ms. Betty Sapp
Director, National Reconnaissance Office
The Honorable Kenneth P. Rapuano
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security.
Thank you all for appearing before us today and for your continued service to our nation.
As you might have heard on Tuesday afternoon during a speech in California President Trump endorsed the formation of an independent space force, outside the Air Force, just like the Army and Navy.
I look forward to working with the Administration in achieving this goal in the near future.
This initiative, that I began in earnest last year, was never about personalities or individuals. It was rooted in the very real acknowledgement of the threat posed by our strategic competitors in the warfighting domain of space.
As we work to ensure that our joint space warfighters are ready and able to fight and win in this domain it is important that we continue to hold the Department and specifically the Air Force accountable for presenting a budget that enables this transition.
Like they say in Alabama—if you can't roll with the big dogs you should stay on the front porch.
It is through this lens of space warfighting and reorganization that I am assessing this year's national security space budget.
And my initial assessment of it is mixed.
I'm glad to see major decisions were made in our most important satellite constellations to move towards more resilient architectures.
The shift from procuring the current GPS III and SBIRS platforms to developing a more resilient next generation architecture for both, is an interesting idea worth consideration.
However, I still have concerns about the Air Force's ability to move quickly here and get the space segment, ground segment, and terminals all delivered on time and on schedule.
I also remain concerned about the prioritization of space programs across the DoD and within the Air Force.
If you look up on the screens, we have a couple charts that compare space funding between FY18 and FY19.
The combined procurement and R&D accounts for Space programs actually saw an overall decrease of about $500million from the FY18 levels.
We didn't make these numbers up – these are straight from the Comptroller's budget documents.
And when we got the Air Force's unfunded priorities list for FY19, I counted 10 different space programs on it, asking for over $350 million in funding.
That's really my biggest frustration. We've heard Air Force leaders talk about the increasing threats we face in space and declare that space is a priority mission for the Air Force.
Yet, when the rubber meets the road, we see space programs given a backseat behind other Air Force programs. I didn't see a lot of air dominance programs on that unfunded list.
Given the President's remarks on Tuesday afternoon, I anticipate that the Department will accelerate its plans to embrace the formation of an independent space force.
And I look forward to working with the Administration in realizing this goal so that our joint warfighters in all domains—air, space, cyber, ground, and maritime—are the best equipped, most lethal, and most effective force in the world."
